Closure cap



D. D. ACTON Oct. 31, 1961 CLOSURE CAP 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 14,1958 INVENTOR. DAN/5L D. Ac ro/Y z aliz @295 ATTORNEY Oct. 31, 1961 D.D. ACTON 3,006,493

CLOSURE CAP Filed Aug. 14, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. DAN/5L D4cro- United States Patent Gfifice 3,006,493 Patented Oct. 31, 19613,006,493 CLOSURE CAP Daniel D. Acton, Lancaster, Ohio, assignor toAnchor Hocking Glass Corporation, Lancaster, Ohio, :1 corporation ofDelaware Filed Aug. 14, 1958, Ser. No. 755,053 1 Claim. (Cl. 21544) Thepresent invention relates to the sealing art and more particularly to ascrew type closure cap, the method of making the cap and a sealedpackage therefor.

Screw caps fall into two general classes. First, caps which have acontinuous thread to cooperate with a corresponding thread on thecontainer; secondly, caps which have a plurality of spaced lugs whichcooperate with corresponding cams or thread segments on the containerfinish. V

Lug caps are easier to apply and remove than continuous thread caps. Oneor more complete turns may be required to remove the continuous threadcap while a fraction of a turn will apply and remove lug caps.

In recent years it has been the practice to package certain foodproducts, such as powdered coffee, in a package having a cap with a longor deep skirt. The deep skirt is preferred because it conceals the usualbead appearing below the container finish which is utilized to transferthe container from one mold to another during the manufacture of thecontainer. The concealment of this bead by the deep skirt improves theappearance of the package.

Such deep skirt closure caps have been provided with a continuous threadfor applying it to a container. The presence of such a continous threaddetracts from the appearance of the finished package. Moreover, thecontinuous thread prevents the closure cap from dropping far down on thefinish so that it is diflicult to utilize automtaic sealing machines toscrew continuous thread closures onto containers with any great speed.

In addition, the usual sealing liner which is placed in such continuousthread caps many times remains on the rim of the container when the capis removed and is sometimes inadvertently discarded by the housewife.

The present invention minimizes these disadvantages and has for one ofits objects the provision of an improved closure cap having a deep skirtwhich will hide the usual bead on the container to improve theappearance of the package.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedclosure cap having a deep skirt which will permit caps to be applied tocontainers by an automatic sealing machine at greater speed.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an improvedmeans for retaining sealing liners in the closure cap.

Another object of the present invention is to provides an improvedcontainer finish on which a closure cap can be easily applied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an improvedclosure cap which has a pleasing appearance z md which is inexpensive tomanufacture.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon anunderstanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, orwill be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages notreferred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employmentof the invention in practice.

A preferred embodiment of the invention has been chosen for purposes ofillustration and description and is shown in the accompanying drawings,forming a part of the specification, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of a preferred embodiment of the cap;

FIG. 2. is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the finishof the container for use with the cap shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view showing a cap in position to bescrewed onto a container;

FIG. 4 is an elevational View of a cap laid out flat showing theindentations in the cap and lugs for retaining the linear in position onthe cap;

FIG. 5 is an elevational view of the container finish laid out fiatshowing the container thread segments;

FIG. 6 is an elevational view laid out fiat showing the relativepositions of the lugs of the closure cap and the thread segments of thecontainer finish before the cap is screwed onto the container;

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 showing the relative positions of thelugs of the cap and the thread segments of the container finish afterthe cap has been screwed thereon;

FIG. 8 is a sectional view taken along line 88 of FIG. 6 showing therelative position of the lugs before the cap is screwed onto thecontainer; and

FIG. 9 is a sectional view taken along line 99 of FIG. 7 showing theposition of the lugs after the cap has been screwed onto the container.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the closure cap 1of the present invention is provided with a cover portion 2 which isadapted to overlie the container and a skirt portion 3 dependingtherefrom. The skirt 3 is of suflicient length or depth to conceal theusual bead below the container finish. The edge of the skirt 3 is rolledor curled outwardly to form a bead 4 to strengthen the cap and toconceal any rust which may form on the cap and prevent rust from fallinginto the contents of the container. The cover 2 has a circumferentiallylocated depressed Zone 5 which is adapted to overlie the rim of acontainer and press a liner onto the container rim to form a seal withthe rim of the container when the closure cap is screwed thereon, asbest shown in FIG. 9.

A plurality of spaced inclined indentations, thread segments or inclinedcams S are struck inwardly from the skirt 3 to cooperate with threadsegments on the container finish to retain the cap on the container. Itwill be noted that the locking lugs or cams 8 are located in the upperportion of the skirt 3.

It will also be noted that the inclined thread segments 8 of the cap donot constitute an interrupted thread but are thread segments or camshaving their lower and higher edges starting and terminating at the sameelevational planes. This permits force to be applied uniformly when thecap is screwed onto the container and results in a better seal.

The closure cap is also provided with a plurality of horizontallylocated liner-retaining lugs 7 which are preferabiy formed byindentations struck inwardly from the skirt portion 3 of the closure capand which are adapted to support and retain a liner therein. Theliner-retaining lugs 7 are locate-d near the top of the skirt above theinclined locking lugs 8 and they are also located directly above thespaces between the inclined locking lugs or cams 8 of the closure andcircumferentially spaced from the ends, which may be regarded as theleading and trailing edges, of the locking cams 8. This will prevent theliner-retaining lugs 7 from interfering with the application of the capon the container, as will be more fully referred to hereinafter.

The closure cap is provided with a liner 6 which is pressed into the capand held therein by the liner-retain ing lugs 7 (FIG. 1). The linershown in the drawings is the usual paperboard liner used in such closurecaps. However, it will be understood that other types of liners orgaskets may be used.

If desired, instead of a paperboard liner, a suitable sealing material,such as a rubber compound, can be flowed or poured into the closure capto form a sealing gasket.

The container made in accordance with the present invention is shown inFIG. 2 and comprises a container finish 11 provided with a plurality ofthread segments or inclined earns 13 which are adapted to cooperate withthe inclined indentations or cams 8 on the closure cap to lock theclosure in position on the container.

The container is also provided with a circumferential bead 1'2 directlybelow the finish 11 to permit the container to be easily grasped whenmoved from one mold to another during its manufacture. This transferbead 12 is located at a higher position than in the usual container sothat it may be easily concealed by the deep skirt of the closure cap, asshown in FIGS. 8 and 9.

Referring to FIGS. 6 and 8 of the drawings, illustrating the screwing ofthe cap on the container, the closure cap 1 is initially placed onto thecontainer finish 11 in any desired manner, for example, by an automaticcapping mechanism. The inclined locking lugs 8 on the cap are placed inthe spaces between the inclined thread segments or cams 13 on thecontainer. This will permit the cap to overlie the rim of the containerin a substantially horizontal position which will facilitate the use ofan automatic sealing machine to screw the cap onto the container. Thiswill also permit the cap to lie deep down on the container finish sothat the skirt portion 3 will conceal the bead 12 to improve theappearance of the package.

The closure is applied to the container by a twisting motion in thedirection of the arrow shown in FIG. 7. The inclined lugs 8 on the capwill be cammed underneath the thread segments 13 on the container finish11 and will be held thereby to lock the closure in position. When thecap is tightened onto the container, the depressed zone of the cap willoverlie the rim of the container (FIG. 9) and the liner 6 will bepressed therebetween to form a tightly sealed package.

In order to remove the cap, the cap is twisted in the reverse directionto move the lugs 8 from underneath thread segments 13 on the containerfinish 11.

During the application or removal of the closure cap the liner retaininglugs 7 will not strike thread segments or cams 13 on the containerfinish since they are located between locking lugs 8 of the cap andhence will not interfere with the application or removal of the cap ontothe container.

It will be seen from the above that the present invention provides animproved closure cap which does not have a continuous thread to improvethe appearance of the package and which has a skirt of sutficient depthto hide the usual bead below the container finish to further improve theappearance of the finished package. The invention also provides aclosure cap in which the possibility of liners being discarded isminimized. Another important advantage of this invention is that theclosure cap can be easily applied to the container by an automaticsealing machine and that the liner-retaining lugs do not interfere withthe application or removal of the closure onto the container.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangementof the parts herein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention and without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to beunderstood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrativeand not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A closure cap comprising a cover portion and a skirt portion, aplurality of spaced inclined indentations on said skirt portion forminglocking cams, said locking cams being on the same elevational plane witheach other and being located in the upper Zone of said skirt portion, aliner in said closure cap and a second plurality of circumferentiallyspaced indentations formed in the upper zone of said skirt portionadjacent said cover portion above the level of said locking cams and inclose adjacency to said level to form liner-retaining lugs to supportand retain said liner in said cap, each of said linerretaining lugsbeing of approximately the same length as each of said locking cams andbeing located directly above the space between two of said lockingearns, the leading and trailing edges of each cam beingcircumferentially spaced from the trailing and leading edgesrespectively of the next adjacent pair of lugs, and the spacing of thelugs above the level of the cams and the circumferential spacing of thelugs from each other being such that when the cap is screwthreadedlyseated on a container having circumferentially spaced thread segmentseach lug will be spaced circumferentially short of the leading edge ofone of said thread segments.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

